


The gift

by knightowl8219



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Loves Magnus Bane, Alec is a bad gift giver, Emotional Magnus Bane, F/F, Failed Miserably, Gen, Holidays, M/M, Nervous Alec Lightwood, but he tries, cute and emotional, inspired by a tiktock, tried to get it done before midnight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28472508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightowl8219/pseuds/knightowl8219
Summary: Alec needs the perfect gift for his husband for their holiday. He gets an idea but will it be a good thing or will it crush his loves heart?
Relationships: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood, Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland
Kudos: 38





	The gift

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Hope you like it :)

For as long as Alec had known  Magnus he had loved him. Not just loved, but admired. Respected. Been in utter awe of this wonderful loving man who endured a horrible childhood only to become the best father. Who saw his father tear their family apart with addiction and lost his mother  to depression but became the glue that kept his and Alecs family  together. A man who knew well the feeling of hands that were supposed to protect him instead hurt him. He watched his father abuse his mother, both physically and emotionally and yet would never raise his hand to his husband or sons. Alec was amazed by his husband; the love of his life and the most beautiful soul. He had been wracking his brain for the right gift for the upcoming holiday season and he was running out of time. 

“Alright guys, I’ve called you here for a very serious and what could possibly be a life and death situation.” Alec addressed his sister and her wife as they sipped their coffee at the local café.

He was desperate and willing to throw himself at their mercy. 

“Alec! It’s been months and you still haven’t figured out what to give him?” Izzy exclaimed, knowing her brother and still shaking her head at him.

“Dude, I told you before, just make him something! Or maybe a new ear cuff?” Clary,  Izzys wife of three years and Alecs best friend from high school chimed in. 

“An ear  cuff ! Are you even trying here, Red? I need real ideas!” Alec moaned despairingly. He had given Magnus an ear cuff for  Valentines day, and while his husband had loved it and wore it often, this gift was different. 

“It’s our first holiday with all four of us, so it has to be something special. The boys are making him a gift. I need to get something that shows him how much he means to all of us.” he said, feelings of love and also of sadness threatened to overwhelm him. 

“He’s going to love whatever you give him, but I understand what you are saying. I have an idea,” Clary said, a thought popping into her mind along the lines of family. She explained her idea to the siblings, who both perked up when she laid out the details of the gift.

“Babe! You are a genius! Oh Alec, Magnus will love this!” Izzy squealed, kissing Clarys pink cheek. 

“Can you do it though, Clary? Like you personally? I wouldn’t trust anyone else with something so special.” Alec asked, knowing she would hesitate but also knowing he couldn’t let just anyone do what she was talking about. 

“Of course! Get me what I need and I can start it this weekend. Should be done right around time for the gift exchange at your place.” Clary said, checking her  calendar on her phone to make sure she would have the time she would need to devote wholly to his project. 

“I can get you everything tomorrow if that works for you? I can drop it all off at your studio if that’s okay? I don’t want to risk Magnus seeing at your guys’ home studio.” he said, mentally going over what he needed and how he would get it. After his coffee date with his sisters, Alec headed home with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. Walking into their loft to sounds of his boys all laughing and giggling was music to his ears. 

“Daddy! Hi daddy!” his youngest, Max yelled as he came racing to Alec. Barely having time to hang his coat, he scooped up the toddler and flew him around like an airplane until he plopped him down onto the couch next to Raphael, his oldest son. Naturally on the more subdued side, Raph was the most recent addition to the Lightwood-Bane house, having been adopted right after the new year. Alec had been telling the truth about his excitement about this being their first holiday as a family of four. Ruffling the five year  olds dark hair as he sat next to him on the couch, Alec smiled at Magnus who was coming out of the kitchen with snacks for the boys. Stopping to kiss his husband, as he always did, he set the boys up with snacks and then settled himself on Alecs lap. 

“How as coffee with the Lightwood-Fray wives?” Magnus asked, cuddling against Alec. Winter time in general was hard on Magnus, but the stress of holidays and work added to that and Alec knew that his baby needed a little more than usual love and affection. He was happy to provide it. 

“Good as usual, just solidifying plans for the party.” Alec responded, wrapping his arms around his man to bring him as close as possible. He swears Magnus purrs when they cuddle this close and he adores it. 

“Mm, can’t wait to see everyone, it feels like ages since we were all together. Must have been Maxs birthday party over the summer.” Magnus murmurs, almost asleep with his face buried in the warmth of Alecs neck. Knowing they don’t have long before their  son's snacks run out and they are needed again, they revel in this time together. 

The holidays are flying by and Alec is nervous. They had finished shopping for the boys last week, with all the gifts wrapped and labeled and ready to go. He was getting updates from Clary daily, and the gift would be ready for the party and gift exchange. 

But he was still nervous.

Like fighting nausea nervous. 

What if he hated it?

If it just made him sad?

Oh god what had he done?

Alec was spiraling and he both wanted the day to get here already and also wished he could just go into hiding and skip the party altogether. That was his more dramatic side, but the idea of the four of them just starting a new life together on some beach where there were no presents or gift giving sounded better and better. 

The day of the party came and Alec for real thought he was going to throw up. 

Just toss his cookies and be done with it. 

Stomach roiling with nerves, he helped Magnus put finishing touches all around their home. It was a pot luck but Magnus still had food brought in as well. The boys were decked out in their best dressy clothes.

“Okay, I admit it; you guys look sharp! Raph you are rocking that bow tie! And Max, man, those suspenders are so cool! You guys look like boss’” Alec gushed, his nerves being overridden with love and awe of his family. Looking up from his sons, his eyes zero in on his sexy as hell all dressed up husband. They were all in the same color palette but wore different stuff and Magnus was magical. There was glitter and sequins and satin and necklaces and it was all too much for Alec to just stand there. Meeting him in the middle of their living room, he grabbed the satin lapels of Magnus’ jacket and slammed their lips together. Lost in their make out session, they  vaguely became aware of their sons making gagging noises and yelling at them to ‘Stop kissing already’ and also the door bell ringing. As their family started streaming in, Alec let Magnus go with a promise of a special unwrapping later with just the two of them. His eyes darkening with lust, Magnus took a shaky breath before responding.

“You had better keep that promise, Mr. Lightwood-Bane.” he whispered huskily, knowing how much Alec loved it when he called him by his full last name. Izzy saunters up and pushes them apart, knowing her brother and brother-in-law all too well.

“Alright enough sucking face you two! Time to get this party going!” she crowed, making everyone laugh. It took about an hour for everyone to get there, but they finally had the full house they wanted. Friends, family, kids of all different ages running around trying to get Chairman Meow to play with them. Maryse declared it was time for gifts before the little ones got too tired and she started handing her gifts around. Alec felt the butterflies come back when Clary caught his eye and motioned with her head to the hallway by the door. He stood and casually walked over with her to move the present closer to the living room. Jace of course was the first one to spot the oversized gift covered in brown paper and string. 

“Hey, what’s that? I thought we were supposed to keep to the limit?” he whined, making Simon shush him with a kiss. Successfully distracting the group with awes at the couple, Alec thought he was good but failed to take into account his husbands eagle eye and attention to detail. 

“Hey babe, what’s that?” he asked Alec casually, trying to make his way thru the people and gift paper trash to get to the package. Stepping to quickly block his path, he put on his most dazzling smile with hope that would be enough to redirect his  husbands attention. 

It was not.

“Yeah, that’s not going to work with me hot stuff, is that for the boys? Alexander! We already bought all their  stuff, they don’t need anything else! Especially something so big!” Magnus  whispered , trying to keep his voice down so his sons wouldn’t hear. 

Alec wasn’t planning on doing this in front of everyone. 

He was going to have to do this in front of everyone.

Shit. 

Okay.

“Actually, baby, that’s your present. I was going to save it for tomorrow, but if you want you can open it now.” Alec explained, giving Magnus the choice. 

Of course, he wants to open it now.

Shitfuck.

Alec tells Magnus to go sit on the couch and he will bring the present over. Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, he began the speech he had been working on in his head that he was going to say along with the gift. 

“So, everyone here knows that I’m not great at gift giving. This year is special because it’s the first year with all four of us together. Baby, I love you. I hope you like this.” he says, presenting the gift to Magnus to tear open. Magnus looks quizzically at Alec, wondering what he did that he would be so nervous about. Clary and Izzy were both filming, knowing this was going to be an emotional moment, even the kids were quiet and subdued. Like they could feel the air change. 

Alec watched as the love of his life, his soulmate, the father of his children opened his gift. Ripping the paper off the back, Magnus turned what was apparently a painting or picture of some kind around to see the front and he almost dropped it in shock. His eyes filled instantly, overflowing with tears at what he was holding. Hearing Simon ask Jace who was in the picture, Alec knelt down in front of his husband to hold the painting up. 

“Um, Magnus only had one clear picture in good condition of his mother.  So I had Clary paint her into one of the pictures from our family session in October.” Alec said softly, watching Magnus just stare in shock. As if a switch flipped, Magnus buried his face in Alecs neck and sobbed. Still not knowing if it was good or bad or both, Alec just held him and whispered ‘I love you’ over and over again. Finally, Magnus took a shuddering breath and sat up, taking the hankie a crying Maryse handed him to wipe his face. Face clear, Magnus looked at the painting again and finally spoke. 

“This is amazing and wonderful and oh, she looks so beautiful with our family Alexander. It looks like Max is looking right at her! Remember how he kept looking to that one side?” Magnus said, studying the images and thinking about their photo shoot. 

“I do remember, we kept telling him to look straight but he kept looking up over his shoulder. When Clary first showed it to me, I thought maybe that’s what he was looking for?” Alec said, putting his arm around Magnus’ shoulders and looking at the portrait together with him. The four of them were sitting on a blanket at a local park with the changing leaves behind them. Raphael was sitting in front of Alec while Max was in Magnus’ lap. Magnus’ mother fit the picture, like she was actually there. 

“Now you have a picture of her with all of us, an image that we can put up so everyone can see how beautiful she was and how she would have loved our boys. Like she loved you, babe.” Alec whispered, not registering the tears on his own face. Wiping away his tears, Magnus kissed Alec sweetly. 

“I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for this. It’s amazing and you, you are amazing as well. I love you so much, Alexander.” Magnus said, resting his forehead against Alecs. 

“I love you too, babe. Thank you for our family.” Alec responded, gently rubbing his nose against Magnus’. 

Later that night,

“I think it’s perfect. It’s the perfect spot, don’t you think?” Magnus asked, looking up above their fireplace. Where their wedding portrait was now hangs their family portrait, in a place of honor for everyone to see. Alec hugged Magnus from behind, arms wrapped around his waist. 

“I agree. It’s perfect.” he said softly, kissing Magnus’ cheek. 

And it was.

Perfect. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Just something I had floating around 💙💜💚💛🧡❤️


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